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On-farm energy management has a huge potential for improving the environment, lowering farm and ranch production costs and decreasing reliance on foreign energy supplies. Cotton producers are implementing many of the energy conservation steps recommend by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), including:
- Reducing or eliminating tillage and managing residues to reduce fuel use and improve soil, water and air quality. Switching from conventional tillage methods to no-till can results in fuel savings of 3.9 gallons per acre.
- Adjusting nutrient management and crop rotations to include legumes to offset use of petroleum-based nitrogen fertilizers.
- Adjusting irrigation timing to directly reduce energy consumption as well as other resource concerns.
- Using integrated pest management strategies to optimize petroleum-based inputs and to produce environmental benefits. With precision application, better weed control, and lower herbicide runoff and energy savings of 45 percent are being realized.
- Planting perennial crops and introducing rotational grazing to reduce energy associated with planting and harvesting.
- Switching to more energy-efficient machinery such as irrigation pumps. Improvements in water efficiency of a modest 10 percent could reduce diesel consumption by 80 million gallons or $192 million dollars on irrigated farmland.
- Converting to bio-fuels, such as ethanol and bio-diesel, to directly reduce demand for petroleum-based liquid fuels as well as to potentially improve air quality.
- Recycling lubricants and other petroleum-based material to reduce demand for petroleum and to reduce potential environmental damage associated with other disposal means.
- Developing alternative energy sources, such as anaerobic digestion, solar and wind, to directly substitute for purchased energy supplies and reduce carbon and GHG emissions.
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